Chicken Tangine

I made this for the first time today and it was really good. It would go good over couscous or some rice, but I just ate it as a kind of soupy mess. It also works better if you use boneless chicken.

1 tblsp olive oil
1 large purple onion thinly sliced
12 cloves of minced garlic
2 tblsp minced ginger
3 tblsp smoked paprika
2 tsp tumeric
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 whole cinnamin stick
2 cups water
1/2 cup canned diced tomatoes in its juice
1/2 cup chopped cilantro stems and leaves
4 tblsp lemon juice

1 whole chicken
3 medium carrots, peeled and cut into pieces
2 cups worth of green beans
1/4 cup chopped fresh mint

heat oil to medium in a large heavy pot, add onion, garlic and ginger, cook until onion is soft. add smoked paprika, tumeric, coriander, cumin, cayenne and cinnamon and stir it in for a minute. stir in the two cups of water and the tomatoes along with the cilantro and lemon juice. bring to boil then reduce heat and simmer for a few minutes while you prepare the chicken.
cut the chicken up and sprinkle with salt and pepper. add to the pot and turn heat up a bit (medium low, enough for a very gentle boil), cover and simmer for 30 minutes. while simmering, prepare your carrots and green beans. after the 30 minutes is up, throw in the carrots and green beans and cook for an additional 10 minutes. chop up the mint and throw it on at the end.

blackberry salad

Blackberry Salad

I made this salad for a bbq. It worked out great.

Dressing:
1/2 c blackberries
1/4 tsp minced garlic
2 tblsp shallots
1/2 tsp dijon mustard
4 tblsp balsamic vinegar (or 2 tblsp balsamic and 2 tblsp blackberry vinegar if you have it)
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup basil flavored walnut oil (or use olive oil and drop a couple basil leaves in)
1 tblsp splenda (or honey, or sugar)
salt and pepper to taste

For the Salad:
1 ripe avocado
lots of lettuce
semi-firm goat cheese
1 cucumber
walnuts
blackberries

to make the dressing: combine all dressing ingredients except the oils into a blender and blend on high for 10 seconds or so. stop and if necessary, scrape down the sides of the blender. then turn the blender on low, take the lid off and slowly add the oils. stop and then strain it through a mesh strainer.

for the salad, mix appropriate amounts of avocado, lettuce, goat cheese, cucumber, walnuts and blackberries (I dont measure, just add stuff until it looks right). Then add half the dressing and mix. Save the other half of the dressing for people to add if they want it.

Thai salad

Thai Salads are awesome. This one is very low-carb friendly and quite tasty. If you don't like real spicy food you can omit the chiles and it still tastes good.

1/2 lb boneless pork, cooked and sliced thin
1/2 lb shrimp, cooked, peeled and cut in half lengthwise
1 cup of shredded chicken
2 hard boiled eggs, quartered
1 cucumber, peeled, split lengthwise and seeded and thinly sliced
1 scallion sliced
7-8 leaves of romaine lettuce, torn into bite size pieces
1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion
2-3 sprigs of cilantro torn up into small sprigs
1 cup dressing (see below)
10 fresh mint leaves
1-2 fresh serrano chiles, seeded and slivered

Dressing (makes 1 cup)
1 tsp sea salt
1/4 cup fish sauce
3 tblsp sucanat
1/4 cup splenda
2 tblsp cider vinegar (or white vinegar)
1/2 cup lime juice
1 tblsp minced cilantro roots or stems
3-4 minced serrano chiles
1 clove minced garlic

dissolve the sugars and salt in the vinegar and fish sauce, then add everything else and mix well.


for the salad, combine all ingredients except the mint and chiles and toss together, then add the mint and chiles as a garnish and serve.

Roast Chicken breasts stuffed with pesto and wrapped in proscuitto

I got this recipe from a tv show. Its really good!

Chicken Breasts
pesto (about 2-3 tblsp per chicken breast)
proscuitto (about 3 slices per chicken breast)

to make the pesto, mix equal parts of basil, pine nuts, and parmesan cheese
in a food processor with a few tblsp of olive oil, you can add some garlic too if you like. it works also if you leave out the pine nuts (but then i would do the garlic for sure)

preheat oven to 350

slice a slit in the chicken breasts along the side - make the slit as deep as
possible with out going through so that you end up with a big pocket to put pesto into. put as much pesto as you can in the pocket, stuff it in there so that
it wont leak out. then wrap 3 slices of proscuitto around the outside of the chicken and put it in a pan, bake in the oven for about 20 minutes, or until the chicken is done.

Fish with Ginger lime sauce

The sauce for this fish reminds me of one of the sauces they have at Japanese Village. Very good. The sauce works for shrimp or chicken too.

Ginger Lime sauce
2 tblsp grated fresh ginger
2 cloves garlic crushed
2 tblsp spenda, or sugar
1/2 of a lime, juiced
2 tblsp water
2 tblsp fish sauce
1/2 tsp chili garlic paste (optional, adds heat)

mix it all up in a bowl.

for the fish part:
1/2 a cucumber
1 tblsp coconut oil or peanut oil
salt and pepper to taste
18 oz of fish fillets, sea bass, red snapper, sole, flounder, tilapia, orange roughy or mahi mahi

split the cucumber in half the long way and use a spoon to remove the seeds from inside. then grate the cucumber on your box grater the long way, trying to get the longest possible strands of cucumber. gather up the shredded cucumber and dump it into the bowl with the dipping sauce.

in a large skillet, add your oil and set heat to medium high. salt and pepper your fish fillets and put them in the skillet once it is hot. cook 4-5 min per side.
when serving, fish out the cucumber strands from the sauce and dump on top of the fish fillets. drizzle a bit more sauce on top too if needed. serve immediately.

Steak with Chipolte butter

I made this chipolte butter the other day and it was awesome. Have this with some vegetables and it is compatible with a low carb diet. Enjoy.

Chipolte butter
4 tblsp butter
1 chipolte from a can plus 1 tsp of the adobo sauce from the can
2 tblsp onion
1 tblsp fresh cilantro

mix in a food processor until smooth. Store extra that you don't use in the freezer.

Rub a little of the chipolte butter on your steak and bbq the way you like it. When serving drop another tsp of chipolte butter on top of the steak. I like this with some bbqd asparagus that has another tsp of chipolte butter on that. Yum Yum :-)

bean burritos

This is a great recipe I got from a friend. Its easy, healthy and good, and you can do it in your slow cooker.

4 cups dried pinto beans, or use 4 cans of pinto beans
1 large can crushed tomatoes
1 can tomato paste
2 cloves crushed roasted garlic
1/4 cup buffalo chipolte sauce (use tabasco brand chipolte if you can't find buffalo but it isn't as good), or you can grind up an equivalent amount of canned chipoltes in adobo sauce
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cumin
1 large onion, diced

put pinto beans into a pot and add at least 3 inches of water above the level of the pinto beans, soak pinto beans overnight, at least 12 hours. or you can just use well washed canned pinto beans.

add all ingredients to crock pot and cook on high for at least 5 hours. mash well and serve with some soft tortillas, herdez chipolte salsa, cheese and sour cream, or whatever else you like on your burritos.

some ideas im going to try for this recipe:
- add some cream to the beans when done mashing them up
- lightly stir fry half of the onion (so it still has a bit of crunch) and add it to the mashed beans at the end for a bit of texture.
- try black beans instead of pinto beans

its great as it is but I like to experiment sometimes.